Undoubtedly, a meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump was the main event last week. Despite some controversy over the format, the talks eventually were held as an official bilateral meeting.

Last week the Kremlin and the White House confirmed that the Russian and US leaders would hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. The official announcement of these long anticipated talks led to a serious discussion in the US with the mainstream media making a lot of efforts to prevent Trump from a possible improvement of the bilateral relations.

Last week new US sanctions against Russia became one of the most popular topics. Ahead of the meeting between the US and Ukrainian presidents Trump’s administration announced imposition of new Ukraine-related sanctions on 38 individuals and entities, which, according to the White House, are involved in tightening the Russian grip on the Crimea and the Donbass regions.

Last week one of the main topics concerning Russia in the foreign media was protests that occurred on June, 12, when Russia celebrated its national holiday. Foreign journalists focused mostly on several points. First of all, they tried to emphasize that there had been many youths among demonstrators. Secondly, the media highlighted actions of the police, which had reportedly detained about 1000 protesters. These actions were predictably condemned by the US and EU as threatening “the fundamental freedoms of expression”. Russian authorities pointed to the provocative character of the protests since the leaders of the opposition had changed the authorized place to Tverskaya street, which was central to Russia Day celebrations.

Last week the Qatar crisis was one of the most covered topics in the foreign media. However, what started with attempts to analyze the relationship between the Middle East countries (experts had warned for a long time that the region is not as homogeneous as ordinary people tend to perceive it and fault lines are not limited to Shiite-Sunni conflicts), eventually ended with a new “sensational” version that the crisis was provoked by Russian hackers.

Last week one of the main events in the world politics was Russian president Vladimir Putin’s visit to France at the invitation of French president Emmanuel Macron. The trip was timed to coincide with the exhibition marking Peter the Great’s visit to Paris and 300 years of Russia-France relations.

Amid intensification of talks about «collusion» between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin Russia’s shadow accompanied Trump also during his entire foreign trip. Ahead of American president’s meeting with NATO and EU leaders journalists discussed concern Europe has over the US Russia policy as, according to them, there is no clear Trump’s stance on Russia. However, the media pointed at the fact that EU and NATO officials seem less anxious over Thump than after his inauguration as they got assurances that there would no radical changes in the US policy. For example, Trump publicly claimed that he did not see NATO as “obsolete” as he had previously said during the campaign.

Last week a new scandal occurred in Washington and consequences are to be far-reaching. The Washington Post citing anonymous current and former US officials said that during the recent meeting in the White House Donald Trump had revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. It was claimed that this information could jeopardize a critical intelligence source of a close US ally on ISIS activities and plans. The report disseminated with light speed In the US press even leading to the discussion of a possible impeachment of the current president because of divulging state secrets. However, in practice for ordinary readers the situation could have another colour and be an extremely disturbing sign concerning the cooperation on combating terrorism.

Last week, on May 9, Russia commemorated the soviet victory over Nazism. The Great Patriotic War claims lives of many Russian people and almost every family was touched by this war. For Russians Victory Day is a really sacred day, which symbolizes the country’s self-sacrifice and its contribution to Hitler’s defeat. However, the western coverage of the commemoration events in Russia was almost totally limited to the idea of politicisation of Victory Day by the government, which, according to journalists, uses it in order to strengthen the regime, and efforts to link it to Russia’s current foreign policy. Unfortunately, western journalists showed that they still misunderstand Russian people and their attitude to May 9.

Last week the Syrian conflict returned to the spotlight. On Thursday Russia, Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum on creating “de-escalation zones” in Syria. It encompasses four areas: the northern province of Idlib, Eastern Gouta, the central province of Homs and southern part of Syria along its border with Jordan. In practice analysts say that these zones cover almost all areas controlled by rebels, who are allegedly not connected with the Islamic State. The signed agreement stipulates establishing checkpoints on the ground and unarmed civilians would be permitted to freely move between territories held both by government and opposition. According to the agreement, all military activities, including air strikes, should be ceased inside the zones. The agreement expressly excludes attacks on terrorists, such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda affiliates.